I imagine the helmsman got the steering commands from the Officer on Deck wrong and steered the destroyer right into the freighter. He/she probably did not know their left from their right.
Port or Starboard?
All commands are repeated back for verification followed by “aye”.
they still jacked this one up.
impossible - the DDG was broadsided amidships by the freighter
unless our destroyers have figured out how to run 30 knots sideways it could not have happened.
“”...the helmsman...probably did not know their left from their right.”\
*************************************************************
Perhaps the steering commands were issued in cursive?
When the Conning officer (OOD or JOOD) give an order to the helmsman, the helmsman repeats it back word for word. A prudent conning officer then checks the compass motion to see if the order is being carried out.